Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Evaluates the relationship between sleep quality and postural control in the elderly, suggesting implications for fall risk.
*Corresponding author e-mail; albuquerque84@gmail.com Introduction: Sleep/wake cycle disturbances occur in over half of adults aged 60 and older. This inability to have restful overnight sleep results in a low quality sleep, which may be associated with impaired balance ability and increased risk of falls in older people. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between sleep/wake cycle and postural control in the elderly. Methods: Twenty volunteers (67.2 ± 7.14 years-old) participated in this study. Participants wore wrist actimeters (Ambulatory Monitoring. Inc.) during 7 consecutive days and answered Epworth (ESS) and Pittsburgh (PSQI) questionnaires. In the second data collection day, postural stability was assessed using a force platform (AMTI, OR6-7) to determine the antero-posterior and medio-lateral amplitudes, trajectory and velocity of the centre of pressure. The elderly people remained on the force platform by 60 seconds in four different conditions; normal stance/eyes open, normal stance/eyes closed, narrow stance/eyes open, narrow stance/ eyes closed. The correlation coefficient of Spearman was applied to identify association between sleep and postural control variables. Results: It was observed a positive correlation between sleep quality (PSQI) and medio-lateral amplitude of centre of pressure in the normal stance/eyes closed (r=0.48;p<0.05) and the narrow stance/eyes open (r=0.47;p<0.05). No correlations were observed between sleep/wake patterns and postural control variables. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that sleep quality influences some postural control variables in older people and may make them more prone to falls as there is a close relationship between balance and the risk of falls. Publication History Article published online: 16 June 2026 © 2009. Brazilian Sleep Academy. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) Thieme Revinter Publicações Ltda. Rua Rego Freitas, 175, loja 1, República, São Paulo, SP, CEP 01220-010, Brazil
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Albuquerque et al. (2009) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: